For example, in manufacturing of a liquid crystal panel for an image display, various semiconductors, or the like, a sputtering apparatus which forms a thin film of metal on one surface of a substrate is used (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-241163 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-332117). The sputtering apparatus is configured in such a manner that the substrate and a target are disposed to face each other inside of a processing chamber maintained at high vacuum, rare gas (Ar gas, etc.) is introduced into the processing chamber as well as a high voltage is applied between the substrate and the target, and ionized rare gas elements collide with a target surface, such that atoms of the target surface are sprung out to form a thin film of a metallic material of the target on the surface of the substrate.
The substrate is carried into the processing chamber with being held by a tray-shaped holding body, and is positioned at a processing position facing the target, to be subjected to film deposition processing. In this case, a part of the target atoms sprung out from the target may be attached to the holding body. In manufacturing of the liquid crystal panel, it is necessary to provide a non-film deposition region on a peripheral edge part of a substrate made of glass, and the holding body includes a substrate retainer for covering the non-film deposition region of the substrate, and thus an unnecessarily metal film may be formed on the surface of the substrate retainer. In the sputtering apparatuses disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-241163 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-332117, a deposition preventive plate is provided inside of the processing chamber, and the film deposition processing is performed while one surface of the holding body holding the substrate is covered by the deposition preventive plate, so as to prevent an unnecessarily film deposition to the holding body, in particular, to the substrate retainer.
Further, the sputtering apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-241163 is configured as an in-line type sputtering apparatus in which a plurality of processing chambers are juxtaposed in a straight-line state along a conveying direction of the substrate together with a load lock chamber, a heating chamber and an unload chamber, and the substrate sequentially carried into each processing chamber is subjected to the film deposition processing.
In addition, the sputtering apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-332117 is configured as a sheet type sputtering apparatus in which a plurality of processing chambers are radially juxtaposed together with a load lock chamber, a heating chamber and an unload chamber, and the substrate is carried into each processing chamber by an operation of a robot for conveying disposed at a center of the juxtaposed region, to be subjected to the film deposition processing.